IMPORTATION OF MINERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 144, 21 June 1939, Page 8

IMPORTATION OF MINERS

MAY BE CONSIDERED POSITION LN N.Z. COAL MINES MEN WON’T WORK FULL TIME ( Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, June 20. Consideration may be given to the Importation oL miners to work in New Zealand coal mines, it no other solution can be found of present difficulties in maintaining the normal output, according to Mr, c. C. Davis, president of the New Zealand Coal Mine Owners’ Association, bo far this year, coal was being imported at the rate of 140,000 to 150,000 tons yearly, Mr. Davis said to-day, compared with the past importations of 110,000 to 120,000 tons yearly. There was no need to import coal at all it the normal output could be secured fro mthe existing mines, and the oenaviour of the miners was solely responsible for the shortage. No solution was at present in sight, said Mr. Davis, who discussed the situation with the Minister of Mines, Hon. P. C. Webb, when the Minister was in Christchurch recently.

“In spite of the Minister’s eifons to reduce imports of coal and make the trade available to our New Zealand mines,” Mr. Davis said, “and in spite of every endeavour by colliery companies to assist him in this, results are definitely disappointing, imports are actually increasing wnen the reverse should be the case. "1 say without hesitation that the Minister has done everything he can do to help,” said Mr. Davis. “The trouble is that the men won t work. There will have to be some means ol enabling mines to work longer hours to overcome the difficulty, whethet by working two or three shifts, or otherwise it might be necessary to cut the week in half and have one half of the men working one half of the week and the rest ot the men the other half. It might even mean the importation of adaitional miners. If our men will not work the full normal time it will be necessary to und more miners, even if they have to be brought from overseas. The Minister has stated on several occasions that he would have to reconsider the matter of granting new leases to permit more mines to open. This would not help the position at all and would only add further embarrassment to the existing mines.

No Ne>d To Work Regularly. ’’The real reason is not difficult to find,” Mr. Davis continued. "It can be baldly stated as being caused by the miners earning more money than they are accustomed to and leaving them with no necessity to go to work regularly. "To illustrate this the superintendent of the State collieries pointed out ftr his last annual report that coal hewers at State mines earned on average fl 16s 3d a man each day- -in other words, 19 Is 3d lor a five-day week. Earnings at other collieries are equally hign. It appears that three or four days weekly at such rates provide these men with all they want, and consequently the most trivial excuse is sufficient to render the mine idle for a day, or else the men just fail to turn up. Some of our larger mines are losing up to 25 pet 1 cent, of normal output through excess j absenteeism and provocative stop-, work meetings over trivial matters. Mr. Davis cited a case of one large West Coast mine -which had averaged only seven days a fortnight for the last seven months. “It might be asked why there are not other men put on to fill places of those who turn up to work , he said. "The peculiar nature of colliery work prevents this, as working places in the mine are allotted every three months to parties of two men to each place in which they wotk for the period. This privilege is very jealously guarded by the unions and replacement is not permitted except for exceptional reasons. This excess of absenteeism has a disastrous effect on the cost ot coal winning, for a full staff of officials and daily wage men has to be maintained whether the mine is producing the whole or only a portion of its normal output. The number of officials and wage men is generally twice that of actual coal hewers, and also the expense of ventilating and pumping goes on over the whole 24 hours whether the mine produces 50 tons or 500 tons or no coal at all.